


Promises

by notavodkashot



Series: Discretion and Restraint [4]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Character Study, Gen, The Shiba-Shihouin-Kuchiki clusterfuck of a family tree, Yoruichi is the coolest aunt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-08-28 23:06:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8466433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notavodkashot/pseuds/notavodkashot
Summary: Shihouin Yoruichi’s first act upon being crowned Head of Clan was to introduce her cousins - some of whom were also her nephews and niece, because their family tree was stupid like that - to each other.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ninjafujoshi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninjafujoshi/gifts).



> For my tumblr prompt drive: Yoruichi, Kuukaku, and Byakuya; the good old days before they had to grow up

Shihouin Yoruichi’s first act upon being crowned Head of Clan was to introduce her cousins - some of whom were also her nephews and niece, because their family tree was stupid like that - to each other. 

Yoruichi was old enough to remember the night the Willow Wept. More importantly, she had the right name, to know what it meant. Kisuke and Tessai were old enough, but they didn’t carry the blood of the founders in their veins. They weren’t destined to be keepers of the Seireitei one day. Yoruichi loved them dearly, but she never told them what had truly happened, never deigned to acknowledge their guessing, until they grew bored or distracted or simply forgot. 

Yoruichi would never forget, not as long as she lived. 

And because she would never forget, she could also not look at her cousins - niece, nephews - and not see them for what they were: survivors who did not know what they had survived in the first place. Treasured and revered for the future they represented; the future the Willow had nearly wept away. 

So as her first official act as Head of the Shihouin Clan, Yoruichi organized a party. A very exclusive party, where only her cousins - niece, nephews - received invitations. Not their parents, not their retainers. Only the awkward, posturing children that represented the future of the Great Noble families. Yoruichi selected the most secret heart of the labyrinth-like grounds of the grand Shihouin estate and had a feast prepared and served, before she shooed away the entirety of her servants afterwards. Her men were stationed in the periphery, but given stern orders not to come anywhere close enough to listen in. 

Yoruichi took great pains in creating a bubble of privacy and comfort, and didn’t care one whit it would invariably be misconstrued as a threat by puffed up old twits who had made their children survivors of a tragedy they hadn’t lived through. 

First were her sister’s children: the last remnants of her warmth, now forever lost beyond the flesh and blood she left behind. Knobby-kneed Kaien and his infectuous grin, all sunshine and delight, stopping every five minutes to boast about something his baby brother had done. Sly-eyed Kuukaku and her flawlesly innocent smiles, all pride and fierceness as she refused to let go of the baby in her arms. Yoruichi had heard stories that Kaien and Kuukaku had refused to let anyone hold their brother, determined to love him and nurture him like his parents would have, had they not died before they could. It didn’t matter if they themselves were children still, their devotion seemed to know no end. 

Yoruichi looked at them, tiny hands and limbs still too round, and felt a spike of disdain for the family that would let them pretend it was wholesome to sink away their childhoods just so no one had to step in and take responsibility. No doubt they would come, in a few decades, when the hard times had passed, to demand leadership and power, expecting to find inept children too consumed by themselves to know any better. 

Yoruichi would see that was not the case. 

Then, there were the Kuchiki. Miyako and Byakuya could have been twins, like their parents had been, but his clothes were fine silk and hers roughly dyed cotton. And his smiles were almost sneers, while hers were mere apologies. He was not mean, despite it all, only proud and willful like his mother had been. And she had wit, beneath the servile, apologetic air around her entire existence, and it was sharp and shrewd and delightful enough, Yoruichi conceded it was like her father’s, before he went mad. But there was kindness, in both, like there had been in the siblings that came before them, and they felt kindred and spoke softly to each other, even if they too were meeting for the first time. 

And Yoruichi refused, staunchly, to accept such nonsense as to punish the girl for what her father had done, when she had been less than a year old. She was Kuchiki by blood and by law, and Yoruichi would have _words_ with whomever it was necessary, because it was madness itself to extract revenge on a soul not yet marred by sin. More so when denying her claim to her name meant denying her cousin suitable company to make sure that kindness of his wasn’t buried in the altar of his name. 

Shihouin Yoruichi’s first act upon being crowned Head of Clan was to introduce her cousins to each other. She held court in her garden, at the head of a table laden with sweets and treats, and in her heart of hearts promised herself not to fail them, like everyone else so clearly already had. She watched Kuukaku pull on Byakuya’s hair and recoil in surprise when he retaliated in kind. She watched Kaien tell Miyako stories and tall tales, until he stole away a laugh from her throat. She watched Miyako braid flowers into Kuukaku’s hair, just to prove it could be just as pretty as her own if she wanted to. She watched Byakuya fiddle with a stone and Kaien’s eyes widen impossibly when it seemed to vanish into thin air. 

She watched them laugh and be children, free for a blessed afternoon of the yoke of their names and the legacy of their forefathers. 

They had not known the night of screams and sorrow and murder, the night the Willow’s leaves wept tears of blood and all of Seireitei wept with it. Yoruichi would see to it, that they were not made to pay for it. 


End file.
